Che Charlotte labor Journal
End or ted bp the N. C. State
Federation of Labor
AND D1
FARM NEWS
Official Organ of Central Labor Union; Standing
for the A. F. L.
YOU* AOVUTIIIMINT IN TNI JMMAk II I
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1943
JOURNAL, ADVIVTUUa DtStRVK CONSIDERATION OR
▼HP RIAOIM
12 YEARS OP
CONSTRUCTIVE
SERVICE TO
NORTH
CAROLINA
READERS
$2.00 Per Year
Labor Is On the Job For Victory
The ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY in Mecklenburg County lraCHitfLp?m«?For a Weekly Its Readers Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Charlotte
PAY INCREASE FOR POSTAL
EMPLOYES HAS THE SUPPORT OF
THIRTY-THREE CONGRESSMEN
WASHINGTON, D. C.—/Thirty-three members of Congress
appeared before the House Postoffice Committee in one day and
demanded quick enactment of legislation under which all postal
workers would get a $300 annual pay increase for the duration
of the war and six months after. No opposition was expressed
to the bill of Representative O'brien (Democrat) of Michigan, pro
viding for the temporary increase.
Senator Davis (Republican) of
Pennsylvania said the measure should
reach House and Senate quickly and
be “passed immediately.”
Representative Fitzpatrick (Demo
crat) of New York contended the
present pay scale is insufficient to
maintain a proper standard of living.
Representative Dondero (Republi
can) of Michigan, declaring that pos
tal workers had not received an in
crease since 1925, said that wages in
industry had increased, living costs
had increased 21 per cent and “this
injustice, to postal workers must be
corrected.”
Representative Gale (Republican)
of Minnesota told the committee the
• request was “not a raid on the Treas
ury, but justice for the forgotten man
in the post office.”
Representative Angell (Republican)
of Oregon said, “It is unfortunate
that large numbers of permanent em
ployes of the Government don’t get
the same consideration accorded thou
sands of temporary workers in the
war effort.”
Representative Auchincloss (Repub
lican) of New Jersey recommended
that the committee report a bill which
would bt all-inclusive, embracing all
post office workers, such as mainte
nance employes, and not just those
performing actual postal duties.
Representative Wolverton (Repub
lican) of New Jersey said the post of
fice should not be required to show a
cash balance at the end of the year
“because it performs a function quite
as important to the nation as the
Army and Navy.”
Among others who appeared, to go
on record in support of the bill, were
Representatives Hill (Republican) of
Colorado, Murdock (Democrat) of
Arizona, Harless (Democrat) of Ari
zona, O’Hara (Republican) of Minne
sota, Rolph (Republican) of Califor
nia, Johnson (Republican) of Califor
nia, Day (Republican) of Illinois,
Sauthoff (Progressive) of Wisconsin,
Busbey (Republican) of Illinois, Rob
inson (Democrat) of Utah, Gavin (Re
publican) of Pennsylvania, Kunkel
(Republican) of Pennsylvania, Boren
(Democrat) of Oklahoma, Hinshaw
(Republican) of California, Ellsworth
(Republican) of Oregon, Voorhis
(Democrat) of California, Vursell
(Republican) of Illinois, Ludlow
(Democrat) of Indiana, and Bender
(Republican) of Ohio.
PAYMENT HOLIDAYS, ILLNESS, ETC.
NOT TO BE CREDITED AGAINST
OVERIME UNDER CONTRACTS LET
A further step toward uniformity in the overtime require
ments under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act and the Fair
Labor Standards Act was announced today by L. Metcalfe Wail
ing, Administrator of the Division in the United States Depart
ment of Labor which enforces both Acts.
Under the new ruling, amounts paid employees for holidays
not worked or sickness may not be credited against overtime due
under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act. Mr. Walling point
ed out that the amounts paid for such hours not worked are not
paid as overtime but for a variety of reasons—to reward employ
ees for faithfulness, loyalty and length of service, to bolster per
sonnel morale, to safeguard physical health and well-being of em
ployees by giving them needed rest and relaxation and to conform
to progressive business practice. Such amounts cannot there
fore be credited to the overtime due under the Fair Labor Stand
ards Act or the Public Contracts Act. This position has been
consistently adhered to in interpretations under the Fair Labor
Standards Act.
Free Labor Will Out-Produce Nazi Slaves
Treasury Department Request
Thousands of labor unions hov«
achieved the 10% War Bond goal but
the Treasury Department has no com
plete record on these achievements. In
order that Treasury records may show
the scope of labor's outstanding War
Bond work, will union officers please
fill in and mail the form below, it their
members are averaging 10% or more
every payday.
....clip out along this line.••••*-•.
Hon Henry Morgenthau, Jr. j
Secretary of the Treasury
Washington, D C.
Dear Mr. Secretary:
t D ir local union has topped that 10% in War Bono -lease
put us on the Honor Roll. More than 90% of the members of
our union are putting 10% or more of their earnings into
War Bonds each payday through a Payroll Savings Plan.
There are approximately workers in our local.
Sincerely yours,
(name) ....
(title) .
(address) ..
local Union No.) ...
(International Union) .....
Note to union officials: If ‘he company with which your union
hat contractual relations has achieved the 10% mark, put
their name here: .
EDITORIAL
THE DIE IS CAST
[In a wilderness of growing anti-Roosevelt and anti
New Deal sentiment, The Labor Journal desires to
. state its case in speaking, the editor believes, for the
workers of Charlotte and North Carolina*—Editor.]
In William Shakespeare’s great drama “JULIUS CAESAR”
he has a passage which goes something like this: “Those friends
thou hast and their adaption tried, grapple them to your hearts
with hoops of steel.” ~ ...
We nyention this only in passing that our conservative friends
in the South, not excluding our great,neighbors The Observer and
The News have grappled to their hearts all the enemies of Roose
velt—and even Jim Farley is getting loud huzzas from all And
sundry folks around here who in former years would not have a
civil word for a New York Tammany politician.
Now Jim Farley is all right, and they are all gathering around
his festive board because he is now ANTI-ROOSEVELT, and they
all feel that here is the chance to throttle the NEW DEAL.
Sometimes, Silence is Golden, and it is wise to gather your
facts, figures and forces together before a battle, provided time
is given for such procedure. Coming events are casting their
shadows before them, and the ANTI-ROOSEVELT campaign,
which started back early in 1942 is beginning to get momentum,
WITH THE AVOWED PURPOSE OF BIG BUSINESS AND
LABOR HATERS, COMPRISING A LARGE MAJORITY OF
OUR DAILY PRESS, TO DELIVER TO THE NEW DEAL
THEORIES OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT A DEATH BLOW
—WHICH WILL NOT BE DELIVERED.
With all the Peglers, Sullivans, Rickenbackers, the Senate
and Congress blocs against the President, and others will not avail,
for THE PEOPLE WILL RULE. Dirty digs against organized
labor, insults to the President’s family and children, the cry of
plutocrats and the would-be dictators, and the “little boy,” whom
his employers make believe he is “BIG BUSINESS” and must not
be oppressed by “COMMON LABORERS,” which includes aU
workers whom they would have become FREE individual agents,
or a part of the company union.
The Labor Journal has endeavored to be fair and square and
for 12 years has stood for that which it believes to be sane and
just. It has seen the workers in this territory suffer, nearly
starve in the dark days of the depression.
This writer, the editor has seen cases of Christian men, heads
of families, foodless and without fuel, light or water—because
they belonged to a union, which had no funds to help them; he
saw things on the side streets, the non-beautiful streets, of which
The OBSERVER editor spoke some days ago—only in a more de
plorable condition. __
THEN, WE WERE UNDER A CAPITALISTIC RULE
WHICH HAD FAILED, AND BIG BUSINESS WAS YELLING
FOR RELIEF—AND THE BANKS WERE CLOSED. And upon
the scene came FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.
The businessmen of Charlotte went down the line with the
workers—they killed installment payments for the period—some
of them even loaned money for food to those people who were
indebted to them. There is no hatred or venom against those
who had carried the burden for their brothers. But why, now,
all this hue and cry against the New Deal? The NEW DEAL PUT
IN INSURANCE FOR BANK DEPOSITS—Before Roosevelt 800
banks failed every year—Now, NONE FAIL. The New Deal
put in CCC Camps immediately taking half million boys out of
the depression and getting them to send money home to their
folks. The New Deal gave life and sustenance to those who were
down. The New Deal lifted them up and gave them a new life.
The New Deal put in a moratorium on mortgages on homes and
no one lost their home, and the New Deal prevented a million
additional suicides of the hopeless, the poor and the depressed.
The New Deal placed the worker on an even keel with the cost of
living and NOT HOLDING THEM DOWN TO A FAT BACK
AND MUSH DIET.
WE ARE IN A WAR, A WAR TO THE FINISH FOK DE
MOCRACY AND HOPE, A DEMOCRACY WHICH MUST SUR
VIVE, BUT WHICH WILL NOT BE A DEMOCRACY IF THE
WORKER IS ENSLAVED OR IS PUT BACK TO CONDITIONS
OF 40 YEARS AGO.
My son, your son, all the sons of the workers are on the
battle-fronts, or going soon. My son, your son are on the assem
bly lines of the plants providing the implements for their bro
thers over there, as are the sons of the business men, the bankers,
the manufactures, only our sons are more numerous in every
branch, because there are more of us, and the family birth rate
average is much greater among workers than among those of
wealth and power. _
THE WIELDERS OF THE AXE OF DEATH TU UKUAW U.&U
LABOR ARE NOW TOURING THE COUNTRY AT MUCH EX
PENSE, appearing before organization groups, civic, commercial
and academic, telling of the time loss on production lines by
strikes, which are non-existent, a day or two lay-off, etc., and
then their statements are refuted by administration bureaus who
have the statistics. So it seems to be no time, and an ill-chosen
period in our naional existence to be stirring up strife between
Capital and Labor. Our workers are giving their all—their skill,
their brawn, their money—to keep the world safe for democracy
and the Christian religion—yet, they are criticized, condemned
and damned—more than 20 million—for the acts of a few, who
think they are being given a raw deal and more than apt they are.
But the A. F. of L. does not condone these flare ups, believing in
a truce until proper settlement has been reached.
Some of those who would put the iron ring of strangulation
around the neck of organized labor will rue the day of their en
deavor. They are bringing their doctrines to the various state
legislatures as opportunity presents by attempted passage of
anti-labor laws which are in many cases admittedly unnecessary
but are merely to reduce some of the previous gains of labor.
Some of these tactics are even creeping into our civic administra
tion, which the editor of the Journal hopes will not reach the
point where the peace and harmony which has existed will be
broken.
Free Labor Will Out-Produce Nazi Slaves
:
WORLD WAR NO. 1 HERO ANSWERS
CAPTAIN RICKENBACKER’S ATTACK
ON THE WORKERS OF AMERICA
Capt. Howard Y. Williams of St. Paul, Minn., one of Minne
sota’s World War I heroes and Field Director of the Union for
Democratic Action headed by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, challenges
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker in an open letter, “DON’T LET THEM
USE YOU, EDDIE, TO DIVIDE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, TO
SET SOLDIERS AGAINST WORKERS. The American heroes in
the shops and factories and on the farms have the same stuff in
them as the boys in the hell-holes of the Pacific. Don’t sound re
treat for heroes on any front.
“I CANNOT LET YOUR ATTACK ON CIVILIAN WORK
ERS GO UNCHALLENGED. MEN DO NOT CHANGE MATE
RIALLY WHEN THEY TAKE OFF OVERALLS FOR A UNI
FORM. They are pretty much the same men. Of course, war
tests men in a severe way. Like every other great crisis in life, it
makes some men and breaks others.
“You know by experience that almost every regiment has its “lazy
bones, its cowards, men who are afraid to die, -who are “yellow.” But,
than* God, most soldier do their stuff and have the qualities of heroes.
, L ,'ddie; Die men *" the factories are the same kind of men as
those in the armies. They are the brothers, fathers, friends and neighbors
of th men in the armies. Some are lazy, just as in the ranks of the soldiers.
,m? "* '"efficient, some shirk hard tasks and long hours. But the bulk
of civilians, just like soldiers, are hard-working fellows doing their best,
working 48 to 60 hours a week.
* k •* because this is so, that men in the factories and on the farms see
that this is a fight to preserve democracy as against autocracy and were
enlisting in such numbers, that the government had to stop enlistments in
order to maintain production of the instruments of war. In the conquered
countries also it is the trade unions that are leading the underground fight
against Fascism.
Because oi my admiration for you
as a soldier, I as another soldier want
to ask you, don’t you think that these
men who are staying at the less con
spicuous tasks because of their patri
otism, have also “gained their right to
citizenship” as much as you or I?
Over the months they are working
just as hard as any heroes in the
Solomon Islands would work at the
same job. Would you disenfranchise
all but the few hundred thousand
members of the armed forces who
have seen active service?
“You emphasize the fact that sol
diers are risking their lives for $50.00
a month. It is a pitiful amount and
yet the fact is that with their meals
and clothes and family allotments, it
is greater financial security than
thousands of them have known in civi
lian life. Why do you want to drag
all workers’ pay to this level? Wby
not let this wealthiest country laise
soldiers’ pay at least to the level of
workers? Where do you get the idea
that men in the factories should work
for $50.00 a month, while managers
should not be limited to $67,000 a
year, lest it curb their incentive ?
Don’t we all need incentives and
shouldn’t we all make comparable
sacrifices ?
“Do yon believe, as you indicated
in your Detroit speech, that post-war
America should guarantee the open
shop although it has taken years of
real struggle on the part of workers’
organizations to eliminate, at least
partially, this denial of majority
rights? Do you believe that the
Wagner Act should be abolished?
“You have found in the aviation
industry that by associating yourself
with other leaders in the industry,
you have greatly benefitted. What
makes you think that workers should
not benefit by this same association
in unions? Just as we war veterans
have banded together in the Ameri
can Legion, the Veterans of Foreign
Wars and the Disabled American Vet
erans, to protect our comrades, so
workers organize themselves to pro
tect and strengthen their standards
of living. What is the difference,
Eddie?
“You do not want soldiers on their
return to join unions. What would
you think of a man who said he want
ed to fight the Japs but wouldn’t join
the army and wanted to be a free
lance? Just as soldiers ought to join
armies to be effective, so workers
should join unions; and business men,
trade associations; and lawyers, bar
associations, etc. Some trade unions
do have racketeers, just as industries
have their Insulls and Whitneys and
just as some regiments have cowards
and traitors, but our job is not to do
away with union industries or regi
ments, but to, clean out the misfits.
“Do you believe that absenteeism,
a practice condemned by all, is ex
clusively the fault of labor unions, or
labor leaders? Or do you believe,
with the Office of War Information,
that absenteeism is a complex phe
nomenon with a multiplicity of causes,
including bad working condittuoa, in
adequate housing and transportation
facilities, sikness, etc.?
“Now, Eddie, don’t bet short on the
American people. In the trenches, in
the factories, on the farms, in the of
fices, they measure up to the crisis.
I KNOW YOU DO NOT MEAN TO
FOLLOW HITLER IN CREATING
SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS, BUT
THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE DO
ING, NEVERTHELESS, IN SEEK
ING TO SET SOLIERS AGAINST
WORKERS. Don’t let them drag your
great military record in the mud in
this way. In unity there is strength.
DON’T LET THEM USE YOU TO
DIVIDE THE AMERICAN PEO
PLE.”
Capt. Williams went to France in
the summer of 1917 as a first lieuten
ant in the Tenth Engineers and was
among the first 25,000 American sol
diers to land in France. He was pro
moted to captain, cited by General
Pershing for conspicuous bravery and
decorated by the French. The men of
his regiment dedicated the regimental
history to Capt. Williams in recogni
tion of his outstanding leadership.
Under Governor Elmer A. Benson of
Minnesota, he served as director of
the Division of Soldier Welfare for
several years, supervising the spend
of over $1,000,000 a year in service to
disabled war veterans.
WM. GREEN confer* with
REAR ADMIRAL C H. WOODWARD (left),
head of Navy’* Incentive Division
FLY A BOMB TO BERLIN- PUT
10 PERCENT OF PAY IN WAR
BONDS.
BUY Bonds NOW